The 1001 Albums Challenge # 23: The Monkees – “Headquarters”

It’s funny – or odd – that I’d never heard this (until just recently, that is). I’m a big fan of The Monkees – starting in what I thought was the usual way, at least for someone of my age: re-runs of the TV show intrigued me, then I had to push aside the baggage of them being “just a made-for-TV band” (thanks mum and dad!) to eventually get to the albums and compilations that told me the real story.

And yet I had never heard this album. I’m not sure how many Monkees albums I have heard, but this is number three and I own the first two on vinyl – and I’ve heard several other albums, via deluxe edition reissues, and I loved the band’s most recent “comeback” album; thought it had a lot of merit. Really strong.

So, yeah, a fan.

And yet this – the album where they really, truly announce themselves as writers and performers in their own right, away from just the TV machine – had evaded me for some reason.